Monday, September 22, 2008

Let me start off by saying "thank you" to everyone that donated to the Al's Run tip jar. It really made me proud to be associated with such a wonderful community that chipped in for a really good cause.

The Summer RSCI Top 100 Rankings have just been released, and there is good news for Marquette fans. All three of the Marquette recruits for 2009 have undergone a decent jump up in rankings.

I looked at the Pre-Summer Rankings in a previous MUScoop.com thread. At the time of the pre-summer rankings, Marquette's class ended up about 15th overall among the other basketball programs. In addition, we were only 6th out of all Big East programs. Thanks to the revised rankings for Marquette, where are we now?

According to the present RSCI rankings, Marquette has the #5 recruiting class for 2009. We're also now #2 in the Big East, behind Villanova (218), and ahead of Georgetown (121), UConn (105), Louisville (104), Pittsburgh (76), and Rutgers (3).

However, let's add a few caveats. First, this is not the final RSCI ranking so things are going to change. Second, recruiting is constantly in flux and I didn't bother to check every single recruit for every school to make sure the RSCI is accurate. Third, the RSCI ranking method isn't perfect, because it's based on a straight point ranking. I personally think that the method overweights a higher ranking instead of having multiple quality players. Fourth, the RSCI doesn't account for junior college players (like Dwight Buycks). Fifth, the RSCI can occasionally miss players that are diamonds in the rough (like this guy).

How does this class compare to other Marquette recruiting classes? Chicos had put together a nice summary of previous RSCI Rankings for Marquette. It's a little dated for the 2008 class but still shows where other classes ended with rankings. Junior's present ranking of 39, while good, is not the best RSCI ranking for any player. He's second best on the list behind Dominic James at 36. And it appears that this class as presently ranked is second (134 points) to the Three Amigos class (149 points).

How would this class look if Marquette signs another top 100 player for 2009? Based on all of the activity, Buzz is not done recruiting for the 2009 class. What if Marquette is able to sign a player like Michael Snaer (RSCI rank of 17) or Jamil Wilson (RSCI rank of 48)? At that point Marquette would end up with solidly the #3 recruiting class in the nation or possibly even the #2 recruiting class.

Again, there are plenty of caveats, especially since this isn't the final RSCI ranking. Regardless, it's nice to see the numbers provide some justification for what people already suspect... the 2009 class has some talent.